Why Fractionated Coconut Oil?

Many skin care recipes ask for coconut oil, and some ask for 'fractionated' coconut oil. Think of facial creams, body butters, tooth paste, liquid hand soap, shampoo and even oil pulling. You might have wondered why some recipes ask for fractionated coconut oil, rather than regular coconut oil. Without going into the nitty gritty details about long and short chain triglycerides, lauric acid etc. the difference YOU notice is that the fractionated version is liquid and stays liquid. Unless you live in a tropical country, your coconut oil will remain liquid all the time. But on this side of the pond, northern Europe, normal coconut oil will turn hard when temperatures drop. Below 24°C to be precise. Is this important? Well, in some products it is. Imagine your facial oil turns hard so you can't get it out of your little bottle anymore, something like that. Still not really disastrous.

But when it comes to toothpaste, shampoo or oil pulling, you might want to use the fractionated version. This will prevent your sink from clogging up with build up coconut oil. Last weekend I created a liquid hand soap with fractionated coconut oil and the whole family loves it! It sounds silly but everytime I get home I can't wait to wash my hands ;o)  See my fb post in which I share my recipe of liquid hand soap.